Cereal food product and method of making the same

ABSTRACT

Cocoa or cinnamon is mixed at least one enzyme to form a mixture, and the mixture is combined with a cereal food composition. In one embodiment, the cereal food composition is extruded or otherwise formed into a plurality of cereal pieces after the mixture is combined with the food composition. In another embodiment, the mixture is coated onto cereal pieces formed from the food composition. Preferably, the at least one enzyme includes at least two carbohydrases, and can also include soluble fiber enzymes, and even one or more fat soluble enzymes. In each case, the at least one enzyme is deactivated, either during working of the cocoa or cinnamon after combining with the cereal food composition or prior to the mixture being combined with the cereal food composition.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to cereal food products, such asready-to-eat (RTE) cereal pieces, and, more particularly, to making foodproducts with certain natural ingredients, such as cocoa or cinnamon,while also taking measures to enable the effective use of suchingredients.

When producing food products, it is important that the componentingredients, as well as any ingredient mixtures, are not so viscous orsticky as to cause production difficulties. Certainly, it is importantthat the ingredients and mixtures thereof are not so viscous as to clogthe machines (e.g., extruders) and pipes through which they pass as suchclogs can lead to the shutdown of production lines, thereby increasingcosts and potentially reducing the amount of product that can beproduced. Also, when intermediate products are placed on a dryer belt,for example, the stickiness of these products can lead to build up orfouling. Unfortunately, some otherwise desirable ingredients, andmixtures containing these ingredients, are sufficiently viscous orsticky so as to cause difficulties during production. For instance, bothcocoa and cinnamon increase viscosity and stickiness when used in foodproducts. As a result, in certain food products, it has generally beeninfeasible to include significant amounts of cocoa, cinnamon or bothnatural ingredients.

These production issues have also made it difficult to remove or reducethe amount of other ingredients. For example, in order to meethealth-related metrics, the amount of sugar used in many food productshas been reduced, which has had the effect of making processing theoverall products more difficult as the sugar acts as a lubricant duringprocessing. Also, certain artificial ingredients, such as artificialfood coloring, are commonly employed when producing a wide range of foodproducts. Increasingly, there has been a desire to reduce the use ofsuch ingredients. However, when it is desired to remove artificialcoloring for example, it is not as simple as replacing the artificialcoloring with a non-artificial (i.e., natural) ingredient when making afood product having the color expected by the consumer, particularly ifthe same productions lines are to be used with the new formulation.Instead, the use of natural coloring ingredient can lead to a host ofproblems. For instance, natural coloring ingredients such as cocoa andcinnamon alter the viscosity and stickiness of the formulation so as tocause difficulties during production.

Due to various constraints, it is not always feasible to reduce theviscosity of ingredients by conventional means, e.g., by simply addingadditional water. Accordingly, and in view of the above, it would bedesirable to provide further ways of reducing the viscosity and/orstickiness of certain ingredients, thereby enabling the addition orincreased use of these ingredients or the reduction of removal of otheringredients with current production equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to cereal food products, such as doughbased cereal pieces or marbits, as well as a method of making the cerealfood products. More specifically, the invention is concerned with makinga cereal food product with cocoa or cinnamon, wherein the cocoa orcinnamon is pre-treated with one or more enzymes in order to control theviscosity or stickiness of the overall formulation. In particular, thecocoa or cinnamon is treated or combined with multiple enzymes to form amixture that is later combined with an intermediate cereal foodcomposition in forming the cereal food product.

In one particular embodiment, a dough based cereal food composition isproduced by mixing a plurality of ingredients to form a cereal dough.The plurality of ingredients includes at least water, syrup and grainsor grain flour. The cocoa or cinnamon is mixed with at least one enzymeto form a mixture, and the mixture is combined with the cereal dough orcoated on cereal pieces formed from the cereal dough. In one embodiment,the mixture is combined with the cereal dough and then the cereal doughis formed into the food product. In another embodiment, the cereal doughis formed into pieces and then the mixture is sprayed onto the cerealpieces as a coating slurry. In another embodiment, the cereal pieces areconstituted by marbits.

In a preferred form, the at least one enzyme includes at least twocarbohydrase, but can also include additional, soluble fiber enzymes andeven or more fat soluble enzymes. In certain preferred embodiments,these various enzymes include cellulase, xylanase, pectinase, proteaseand lipase. In each case, mixing the cocoa or cinnamon with the at leastone enzyme reduces the viscosity of the mixture by reducing a carbonchain length of or hydrolyzing the cocoa or cinnamon. The at least oneenzyme is deactivated prior to the mixture being combined with thecereal food composition, i.e., mixed with the cereal food compositionfor further processing or coated on the cereal food composition afterthe composition has been made into a plurality of cereal pieces.

Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomemore readily apparent from the following detailed description ofpreferred embodiments thereof when taken in conjunction with thedrawings wherein like reference numerals refer to common parts in theseveral views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a portion of a process forproducing a ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal product in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a graph of relaxation rate over time for several candysamples;

FIG. 3 is a graph of slurry viscosity versus temperature for treated anduntreated cocoa slurries;

FIG. 4 is a graph of slurry viscosity versus temperature for treated anduntreated cinnamon slurries; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process employed in connection with producingthe RTE cereal product in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A wide variety of food and snack products are prepared from cookedcereal doughs, including ready-to-eat (RTE) or breakfast cereals.Generally, in the preparation of cooked cereal dough, cereal orfarinaceous ingredients, such as various cereal flours, are firstadmixed with other dry ingredients, such as salt, minerals, starch andsugars, to form a dry blend of ingredients. This dry blend is thenfurther blended with various liquid ingredients (including water),heated and worked to gelatinize or cook the starch fraction of thecereal ingredients and other starchy materials. A wide variety ofblending, cooking and working apparatuses and techniques are known inthe art. More recently, the preparation of cooked cereal dough using acooker extruder, especially a twin-screw extruder, has becomecommonplace. The cooked cereal doughs so prepared can be processed toform finished products of various sizes, textures and shapes. Typically,a post-cooking cereal dough formation step involves forming suitablysized and shaped individual pieces, such as shreds, flakes, biscuits orpuffs. Thereafter, the finished dried cereal base pieces can have atopical coating applied thereto in order to provide desired taste andtexture attributes. For instance, in the preparation of a breakfastcereal, the topical coating can include a sugar coating.

Of particular interest to the present invention is the production of RTEcereal products. With initial reference to FIG. 1, a portion of aproduction arrangement for preparing RTE cereal in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention is shown. Cereal ingredients100-102, as well as a natural food coloring ingredient 103, are suppliedto a cooker extruder 105 to form a cooked cereal dough. Although notshown, cooker extruder 105 can be defined by an Archimedes-type single-or twin-screw extruder that is driven by a motor 110. Motor 110 islinked through a communication line 115 to a controller (or controlsystem) 120. Cereal ingredients 100-102 can take the form of a widerange of cereal components suitable for cooking and extrusion. By way ofexample, cereal ingredient 100 is a dry, processed starchy cerealingredient, cereal ingredient 101 is a syrup and cereal ingredient 102is water.

For the sake of completeness, it should be noted that cereal ingredient100 can take many forms known in the art, such as being formed withappropriately sized particles of whole grains supplied by any of themajor cereal grains including wheat, corn (maize), oats, barley, rye,rice and mixtures thereof. In one form, cereal ingredient 100 has onlyfine particles so as to constitute a cereal flour. Cereal ingredient 100can comprise about 40 to 99% (dry basis) of the cooked cereal dough. Interms of organoleptic attributes and reductions in RTE cereal piecefrangibility, better results are obtained when cereal ingredient 100comprises about 75 to 99% of the cooked cereal dough. Cereal ingredient100 can also include various minor ingredients or additives such assugar(s), salt and mineral salts (e.g., trisodium phosphate) andstarches that can be conveniently pre-blended with the other portions ofcereal ingredient 100. Cereal ingredient 101 can be constituted byvarious liquid ingredients, such as corn (maize) or malt syrups or thelike. The amount of moisture from cereal ingredients 101 and 102 willdepend on various factors including the particular cereal ingredients,cooking temperature and working techniques employed. The moisturecontent of the cooked cereal dough typically ranges from about 20 to 30%prior to the cooked cereal dough exiting cooker extruder 105.

If desired, the cereal dough can additionally comprise, by dry weight,about 0.1 to 20%, particularly about 0.5 to 5%, sugar(s) or,synonymously herein, nutritive carbohydrate sweetening agents. Suchmaterials are also well known in the RTE cereal art. One sugar componentuseful herein is sucrose. However, the sugar component can alternativelycomprise fructose, maltose, dextrose, honey, fruit juice solids, brownsugar and the like. In addition to providing desirable sweetness, thesugar component also beneficially affects the cereal color and texture.Conveniently, the sweeteners can be added in with cereal ingredient 100or cereal ingredient 101. If desired, the cereal dough composition canadditionally include a variety of materials designed to improve theaesthetic, organoleptic or nutritional qualities of the cereal. Theseadjuvant materials can include vitamin or mineral fortification, colors,flavors, high potency sweeteners and mixtures thereof. The preciseconcentration of such ingredients can certainly vary. Generally,however, each of these ingredients can comprise about 0.01 to 2% dryweight of the cereal composition. One especially useful material is salt(i.e., table salt or common salt).

Important with respect to the present invention is the addition ofnatural coloring ingredient 103, specifically the use of cocoa orcinnamon as natural food coloring ingredient 103 since cocoa andcinnamon are two non-artificial ingredients that can be advantageouslyused to impart color, as well as flavor, to a food product.Unfortunately, adding either cocoa or cinnamon to a cereal slurry willsignificantly increase the overall viscosity and stickiness of thecereal formulation or composition. This problem is illustrated by FIG. 2which shows the results of a texture analysis. Specifically, sampleshaving different formulations of sugar, water, canola oil, corn syrupand cocoa or cinnamon were prepared. The ingredients were boiled on astovetop, and the liquid was poured into molds to harden and form acandy or confectionary phase. These candies were then subjected to atexture analysis. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the addition of cocoa orcinnamon increased the toughness of the candies (i.e., made the candiesless brittle). This indicates that the addition of cocoa or cinnamonwill increase the viscosity and stickiness of a cereal slurry. As aresult, adding or increasing the amount of these ingredients can causeproduction difficulties, such as the clogging of machines or pipes,specifically cooker extruder 105, as well as build up on or fouling of adryer belt.

To address these concerns, the present invention involves treatingnatural coloring ingredient 103, i.e., the cocoa and/or cinnamon, withenzymes to reduce the viscosity of ingredient 103, thereby reducing theviscosity of slurries containing ingredient 103 without negativelyaffecting the flavor of the resulting RTE cereal products. Without beingbound to any particular theory, the enzymes function to reduce carbonchain lengths and cause hydrolysis of the natural coloring ingredient103. In connection with both cocoa and cinnamon, the treatment includesthe use of particular enzyme combinations. That is, some common enzymesand different combinations of enzymes were found to be significantlymore effective for treating cocoa and cinnamon, and not all enzymes andenzyme combinations can be used to effectively treat these ingredients.Also, even among the enzymes and enzyme combinations that are effective,the effectiveness varies. In somewhat generic terms, a combination of atleast two carbohydrases and at least one soluble fiber enzyme were foundto be particularly effective and, at least in the case of cocoa, atleast one additional fat soluble enzyme. In terms of the specificenzymes, the following enzyme combination was found to be particularlybeneficial in connection with cocoa: cellulase, xylanase, pectinase andprotease (including at least neutral and alkaline protease). Forcinnamon, the following enzyme combination was found to be particularlybeneficial: cellulase, xylanase, and pectinase. To test theeffectiveness of these treatments, cocoa and cinnamon were treated withenzymes and incorporated into cereal slurries. FIG. 3 is a graph ofslurry viscosity versus temperature for treated and untreated cocoaslurries, while FIG. 4 is a graph of slurry viscosity versus temperaturefor treated and untreated cinnamon slurries. As can be in these figures,the slurries containing treated cocoa or cinnamon are less viscous thanthe slurries containing untreated cocoa or cinnamon over much of thetemperature range shown. The viscosity difference is particularlysignificant at the lower end of the temperature range. These results arereproduced in part in Table 1, which provides the viscosities of theslurries at 220° F.

TABLE 1 Viscosity at Viscosity Variable 220° F. (Pa · s) Reduction (%)Red Dutched Control 0.351 0 1E Treated Cocoa 0.321 3 2E Treated Cocoa0.255 9.6 2% Cinnamon Control 0.085 0 2% Treated Cinnamon 0.078 0.7 3%Cinnamon Control 0.151 0 3% Treated Cinnamon 0.156 −0.5

In a particular formulation of the cocoa enzyme combination, thecarbohydrases and pectinase makes up 50% of the combination while theprotease makes up the remaining 50%. The cellulase and xylanase havebeen determined to be the most important portions of the cocoa andcinnamon enzyme combinations in reducing the carbon chain length orhydrolyzing, with the xylanase acting as a catalyst for the cellulase.When cocoas having higher fat contents are used (e.g., 20-22% fat), itwas found that the addition of lipase to the enzyme combination isfurther beneficial in connection with reducing the carbon chain lengthor hydrolyzing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a portion of a process for producingRTE cereal products in accordance with the present invention. At step500, a plurality of ingredients is mixed together in cooker extruder 105to form a cereal dough, the plurality of ingredients including at leastwater, a syrup and grains or grain flour. At step 505, cocoa or cinnamonis mixed with at least one enzyme in order to reduce a carbon chainlength of or hydrolyze the cocoa or cinnamon. In one exemplary enzymatictreatment process, water is heated to 50° C., and the chosen enzymes areadded to the water. Preferably, the enzymes are added in an amount equalto about 5% of the weight of the cocoa or cinnamon to be added (i.e.,12.5 g of enzymes per 250 g of cocoa or cinnamon), and 8 parts water isused to 2.5 parts cocoa or cinnamon (i.e., 800 g of water per 250 g ofcocoa or cinnamon). Once the enzymes are mixed with the water, the cocoaor cinnamon is gradually added until all of the cocoa or cinnamon is insolution. The mixture is then maintained at 50° C. for 10 minutes.Afterwards, the mixture is heated to 82° C. and held for 20 minutes todeactivate the enzymes. At this point, the mixture can be placed in acontainer and refrigerated or frozen until use when it will be pumped tocooker extruder 105 as coloring ingredient 103. Alternatively, themixture is not stored in a refrigerator or freezer after it is made butis instead pumped directly to cooker extruder 105. In either case,coloring ingredient 103, i.e., the enzymatically treated cocoa orcinnamon, is added to the cereal dough in step 510. Then, at step 515,the cereal dough is extruded. In an alternative embodiment, at step 520,the enzy matically treated cocoa or cinnamon is sprayed, such as from aslurry tank (not shown), onto the cereal dough as a coating or part of acoating after the cereal dough is extruded or otherwise formed in step515. Typically, the coating is a semisolid mixture that acts as a sugarcoating for the cereal dough, which is generally formed into shreds,flakes, biscuits or puffs at this stage. Although there are manypotential ingredients, the coating can include water, sugar, syrups andoil. While the preferred embodiment described above involvesdeactivating the enzymes before the mixture is added to the cerealdough, it is also possible to add coloring ingredient 103 with theenzymes earlier in the cooking process, such that the enzymes areactually deactivated during the cooking of the cereal dough or heatingof the coating slurry. In addition, while step 500 is shown taking placeprior to step 505, these steps can take place simultaneously or inreverse order.

Certainly, the present invention can be employed in connection withmaking a wide range of RTE cereal products, including cereal dough basedcereal pieces, marbits or the like, with the enzymatically treated cocoaand cinnamon being added directly to an intermediate cereal foodcomposition or applied as part of a coating to cereal pieces made fromthe cereal food composition. It should be noted that the viscosityissues associated with adding cocoa or cinnamon in connection withmaking marbits, in addition to the same increased pressure and materialpumping problems created in making other cereal pieces, were actuallyfound to even prevent the marbits from foaming. While portions of theabove discussion have focused on adding additional cocoa or cinnamon toa cereal food product to impart color, these ingredients can also beadded to a colored food product simply to impart cocoa or cinnamonflavor. For food products that already contain chocolate or cinnamon,the amount of these ingredients can be increased. Otherwise, chocolateand/or cinnamon can potentially be added to a new or existingformulation. In addition, the amount of cocoa or cinnamon can bemaintained while the amount of sugar is reduced, with the treatment ofthe cocoa or cinnamon advantageously mitigating the increased viscosityissues due to solubility caused by the sugar reduction.

Based on the above, it should be apparent that either adding orincreasing the amount of cocoa or cinnamon in an operational productstream can cause production difficulties. In fact, even maintainingexisting amounts of cocoa and cinnamon can be difficult if the amountsof one or more other ingredients are modified, e.g., if the amount ofsugar is reduced. Although it is possible to replace or upgrade existingequipment or rework cereal formulations, such options may beimpractical, expensive and/or otherwise undesirable. However, thepresent invention provides a way to reduce the viscosity and stickinessof cereal food product ingredients and ingredient mixtures, therebypreventing clogging or fouling of machinery and pipes during productionof the cereal food product. Accordingly, the enzymatic treatmentdescribed above alleviates the problems caused by the use of relativelymore viscous ingredients and allows cereal food products to be producedwith natural ingredients, reduced sugar content, increased amounts ofcocoa or cinnamon or even the use of both cocoa and cinnamon, forexample. Although described with reference to preferred embodiments, itshould be readily understood that various changes or modifications couldbe made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of producing a cereal food productcomprising: mixing a plurality of ingredients to form an intermediatecereal food composition; mixing cocoa or cinnamon with at least twoenzymes including at least two carbohydrases to form a mixture;combining the mixture with the intermediate cereal food composition; andforming the intermediate cereal food composition into a plurality ofcereal pieces, wherein combining the mixture includes applying themixture as a coating onto the plurality of cereal pieces in forming thecereal food product.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the carbohydrasesinclude cellulase and xylanase.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein mixingthe cocoa or cinnamon with the at least two enzymes includes mixingcocoa with cellulase, xylanase and at least two additional, solublefiber enzymes.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein mixing cocoa with thecellulose, xylanase and at least two additional, soluble fiber enzymesincludes mixing cocoa with cellulase, xylanase, pectinase and protease.5. A method of producing a cereal food product comprising: mixing aplurality of ingredients to form an intermediate cereal foodcomposition; mixing cocoa with at least two enzymes comprised of atleast two carbohydrases including cellulase and xylanase, at least twoadditional, soluble fiber enzymes and at least one fat soluble enzyme toform a mixture; and combining the mixture with the intermediate cerealfood composition in forming the cereal food product.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein mixing the cocoa with cellulase, xylanase, at least twoadditional, soluble fiber enzymes and at least one fat soluble enzymeincludes mixing cocoa with cellulase, xylanase, pectinase, protease andlipase.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein mixing the cocoa or cinnamonwith at least two enzymes includes mixing cinnamon with cellulase,xylanase and pectinase.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdeactivating the at least one enzyme in the mixture.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: mixing the plurality of ingredients includes mixingthe plurality of ingredients in a cooker extruder; and combining themixture includes combining the mixture with the intermediate cereal foodcomposition in the cooker extruder.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe intermediate cereal food composition constitutes a cereal dough. 11.The method of claim 9, wherein the intermediate cereal food compositionconstitutes a marbit composition.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereinmixing the cocoa or cinnamon with the at least two enzymes to form themixture includes reducing the viscosity of the mixture.
 13. The methodof claim 12, wherein reducing the viscosity of the mixture includes atleast one of reducing a carbon chain length of and hydrolyzing the cocoaor cinnamon.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:deactivating the at least one enzyme after reducing the viscosity of themixture.
 15. A method of producing a cereal food product comprising:mixing cocoa with at least two enzymes comprised of at least twocarbohydrases including cellulase and xylanase, at least two additional,soluble fiber enzymes and at least one fat soluble enzyme to form amixture; deactivating the at least one enzyme; and combining a cerealfood composition with the mixture, after the at least one enzyme isdeactivated, in forming the cereal food product.
 16. The method of claim15, wherein mixing the cocoa with the cellulase, xylanase and at leasttwo additional, soluble fiber enzymes and at least one fat solubleenzyme includes mixing cocoa with cellulase, xylanase, pectinase andprotease.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein mixing the cocoa with thecellulase, xylanase, at least two additional, soluble fiber enzymes andat least one fat soluble enzyme includes mixing the cocoa withcellulase, xylanase, pectinase, protease and lipase.
 18. The method ofclaim 15, wherein mixing the cocoa with at least two enzymes includesmixing cocoa with cellulase, xylanase and pectinase.
 19. The method ofclaim 15, wherein combining the cereal food composition with the mixtureconstitutes combining the cereal food composition and the mixture in acooker extruder.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein combining thecereal food composition with the mixture includes forming the cerealfood composition into a plurality of cereal pieces and applying themixture as a coating onto the plurality of cereal pieces.
 21. The methodof claim 15, wherein mixing the cocoa with the at least two enzymes toform the mixture includes reducing the viscosity of the mixture.
 22. Themethod of claim 21, wherein reducing the viscosity of the mixtureincludes reducing a carbon chain length of or hydrolyzing the cocoa.